Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska defends Sochi costs, saves stray dogs

One of Russia's wealthiest businessmen says the Sochi Olympic Games cost $27 billion, not the $50 billion that the 'foreign press' claims

www.deripaska.com

Russian billionaire and stray dog rescuer Oleg Deripaska.

Russian aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska says the world's foreign press has got it wrong - Sochi did not cost $50 billion, it was more along the lines of $25 billion or $27 billion.

Deripaska, 46, is one of the wealthiest men in Russia. He runs a group of companies called Basic Element. He has 250,000 employees and is personally worth $8 billion. He's also invested $1.38 billion into Sochi. He built the Sochi Olympic village, redid the airport and reportedly received around $1.7 billion in Olympic contracts, according to Forbes magazine.

In an interview with
BBC
correspondent Daniel Sandford, Deripaska defended his investment into Sochi, saying he is looking at it as a long-term investment, not something that will pay off as soon as the Olympic Games are over.

He dismissed Sandford when he asked if Sochi was just too ambitious of a project.

"My view -- we couldn't have spent more. We spent as much as we can," he laughed. "When I see comments in the press, in the Russian and western media, there is no $51 billion, for sure, it is around $25 billion or $27 billion. This is my calculations total."

As a child, Deripaska fondly remembers spending his summers camping along the shores of the Black Sea. "It is ideal for a lot of people. It is the only place in Russia where you have a reasonably good summer and reasonably good winter," he told the BBC.

Once the Olympics are over, the Olympic village will be sold as apartments. Deripaska added he has no regrets investing in Sochi. "We'll all get it back. There is no doubt. We are long term ... Sochi is an opportunity."

Besides investing, he has also found the time to save some Russian stray dogs. Fed by construction workers, nearly 2,000 dogs and cats make their home around Olympic Park - but opening ceremony organizers thought they were a nuisance and took steps to have them removed.

However, after a worldwide outcry and a social media campaign, Deripaska built a makeshift animal shelter and so far about 150 dogs have been saved, reported The Independent.

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